Chapter 183 : Chapter 183

Chapter 183 - The Past (1)

“Human relationships are really difficult. Don’t you think?”

“...”

“No, that’s not it. I think I’ve built my human relationships quite well. Among the people around me, almost all the ‘men’ are on good terms with me. But the women all look at me strangely.”

The Knight of the Southern Yellow glared at me as if he would tear me to shreds.

“That’s the expression of someone thinking, ‘Is that what you have to say after throwing a person into a hellish series of consecutive spars for over a month? You wanna die?’”

“...Why can you figure all that out, but when it comes to something so obvious, for goodness sake...”

“Enough. You know why I came here, right?”

As I said that, he sighed and trudged back up to the training ground.

[ Awakening Progression: Stage 1 ]

[ Use Eye Opening to copy a certain number of skills to unlock the next stage. (9/10) ]

The set of copied skills I obtained by diligently grinding this guy.

Just one more to scrape off, and I’ll move on to Stage 2.

“By the way, didn’t you not use a single one of the techniques you took from me in the battle against the King of Flies?”

“Yeah. Because they were freaking weak.”

“...”

“Honestly, it was more efficient for me to just move my body as I saw fit than to use the techniques you created.”

“...”

Hmm.

Seeing as he can't reply, it seems even he can’t deny it.

I chuckled at the Knight of the Southern Yellow as he went up to the training ground with a sour look on his face.

-But you know, I’m getting really curious myself, so I have to ask.

“Hm?”

While he was using a new technique in front of me, such a telepathic message came from him.

-Are you really planning to get into a scuffle with the Platinum Knight?

What’s he talking about.

Of course I will.

“Are you worrying about me right now?”

-No. I don’t care if your head flies off or not. But... I’m just worried about the Guardian’s state.

Hmm.

That’s understandable.

He was probably the one most shocked when the System initiated the ‘Elevation’ protocol.

‘Certainly...’

I tried to recall the lore about the Platinum Knight.

Former head of the Round Table. The strongest warrior in human history. A contemporary of the Guardian, and also a companion who spent a long time with her.

But one day, he suddenly vanished into thin air. The Guardian desperately searched for him, but his whereabouts remained a mystery until the end.

And then, as soon as the Elevation began, his mana enveloped the entire Tower.

“...The Tower is a cage that imprisons the Guardian, but it is also something that must be protected. If it were to disappear...”

“The entire world would be erased.”

I replied to the Knight of the Southern Yellow’s words while yawning.

“Because the Tower is the channel through which the System ‘nurtures’ the talent of this world. And managing it is the duty of the Guardian and the Round Table. If it were to be erased, the System would judge this world as ‘useless’ and delete it. You must have had a hard time preventing that, huh?”

The System, while seeming impartial, is also exceedingly capricious.

No matter how diligently the Guardian managed it, if there were no noticeable results, it would have tried to reset this world from time to time.

It was purely the Guardian’s merit that she maintained this world by coaxing, appeasing, and diligently managing the Tower.

Considering her situation, being forcibly abducted by the System and entrusted with the management of the Tower, it could be said to be a tear-jerking contribution to humanity.

“...Just how much do you know?”

“About as much as knowing that the reason it’s so desperate to nurture people is to stop the ‘invaders’.”

A trivial piece of trivia about the story of Conqueror.

This game was originally planned to be a series.

The ‘invaders’ mentioned here were the guys who were supposed to appear in it.

So originally, upon conquering the top of the Tower, the enemies from the sequel should have been presented with a ‘Our fight starts now!’ kind of feeling.

“...”

Well, the developer stopped production due to personal circumstances.

For a reason I know well.

[ !Notification! ]

[ You have met the required number of skills to be copied with Eye Opening. ]

[ You have completed the 1st Awakening Quest. ]

[ The 2nd Awakening Quest is now unlocked. ]

As I was impassively chewing over my thoughts, such a string of text scrolled down before my eyes.

Right. I completed it all right on schedule.

Now, what opens up after this is what's important.

To be honest, to take down the Platinum Knight, strengthening my own specs is more essential than anything else.

They say a master doesn't blame his tools, but still, the Platinum Knight didn't earn the title of ‘strongest in human history’ by playing cards.

It means that even if I try to cheat like I always do, I need a minimum level of preparation.

So, I hope a quest that can be finished a bit quickly comes up.

Since I can handle most things well.

[ 2nd Awakening Quest ]

[ 押ⓦ겍徇귙겒徇잆겗偃?縯뷩겎徇쇻? ]

“...?”

What's this.

Why isn't it showing up.

I rubbed my eyes and looked again.

[ 2nd Awakening Quest ]

[ 押ⓦ겍徇귙겒徇잆겗偃?縯뷩겎徇쇻? ]

“...”

No.

Are you kidding me.

I said I was confident no matter what kind of quest came up, but I never asked for something I couldn't even decipher.

“...Well, right. I’m sure you can handle the Platinum Knight or whatever on your own. Just don't make my efforts worthless, you bastard.”

“Hmm.”

“It... It was truly a hellish series of days... But if it ultimately helps the Guardian, I can endure it all...”

“You know.”

I turned to the Knight of the Southern Yellow with a grin.

“I think we're screwed. Our world might get reset.”

“...”

“It seems like all your hard work might go up in smoke. My bad.”

“...”

The Knight of the Southern Yellow fainted, foaming at the mouth.

***

“...My goodness. This person could make such a gloomy face?”

“It's because nothing comes to mind.”

At the dinner table where everyone in the guild house had gathered to eat, Seo Ah-in threw out such a comment, and I replied while gloomily poking at the food in front of me.

I've tried every method I could think of to decipher the unidentifiable string of characters that appeared in the quest window, but in the end, they all failed.

If things go on like this, I'll have to enter the hidden boss fight without even finishing my final awakening, which is a situation that even a top-tier veteran like me wants to avoid at all costs.

“Alright. Then shall we talk about our love life?”

“...”

What kind of nonsense is this all of a sudden.

To step on the gas like this is nothing short of an art form.

See. Look around. Not a single person welcomed that topic as soon as it came up, right?

Rather, as soon as those words were uttered, everyone went into an almost combat-ready stance, as if there were a time bomb about to detonate right in front of them...

“...”

No, that's too much of an overreaction.

Why is everyone so tense.

“No, I think you're hopeless unless I directly hammer the keywords into your brain like sticking an electrode in it. A blockhead to this extent is almost an art form...”

“...Right now, whether the world ends or not is resting on my shoulders, so what's so important about talking about love life?”

“Right. But is it ending right now?”

“...Not right now, no?”

“Then take a break for a bit.”

Seo Ah-in continued with a sigh.

“Once you're bogged down in one thought, creative ideas won't come out no matter what you do. Taking a break and coming back to it is much better in terms of productivity and efficiency.”

I looked at her with wide eyes.

No, how could this be.

“You knew how to say something so smart?”

“...Go die.”

Seo Ah-in, who replied like that, sighed and changed the subject.

“So, let's talk about love life.”

“...Please, just stop.”

Why does it always come back to that.

As I was sighing in disbelief, Ms. Meirin, who had been fiercely exchanging glances and fiddling with her fork until now, waved her arms and opened her mouth.

“Th-that's right. Mr. Kim Gyu-sik, you might be uncomfortable with this topic since you have no dating experience, right? We can talk about this later when we have the chance...”

No, wait a minute.

There's something in the middle that I can't overlook.

“I have dated before.”

A storm raged at the table.

I don't mean that a real wind blew.

I mean that I had to use a word like that to describe the scene that followed.

The glass cup Ms. Seo Hye-in was holding shattered in her grip, Lee Si-yeong vomited up all the food she was eating and coughed for a long time, and Ms. Meirin froze in the very gesture of waving her arms as she spoke.

And, as for Seo Ah-in.

“Puhup, keuheuk, ah, ahahahahahahat-!”

She was bursting into mad laughter like a crazy person.

“...Why are you laughing.”

“N-no, dating? Y-you? C-even if it's a lie, say something that makes sense, ahahahahahahat-!”

“...”

No.

What on earth did I do to deserve to hear something like this.

As I was chewing over my sense of injustice along with that thought, a zombie... no, Yoo Ho-jun, suddenly appeared, staggering from the side.

“...You, you’ve appeared after a long time, but why are you on the verge of death?”

“...Is the very person who threw me into hellish paperwork with Mr. Lee Seong-jin saying that? I'm only just coming to eat now because of that.”

Hmm.

I think I had a similar conversation with the Knight of the Southern Yellow earlier.

Well, this guy is pretty good at his job. Recently, he has been handling all the administrative work in the guild house with Mr. Lee Seong-jin.

Even Ms. Seo Ji-an, who sometimes comes to assign work, would return satisfied, saying the processing was very neat.

“By the way, what’s with the atmosphere? Did you say something stupid again?”

“I just said I’ve dated before, and everyone's like this.”

“Ah, that person from back then?”

This time, a chilling silence descended upon the table.

It wasn't just Ms. Meirin; everyone had frozen stiff, and on top of that, even Seo Ah-in, who had been bursting into crazy laughter, shut her mouth, creating this phenomenon.

“No, you might not believe it, but this guy has dated before.”

“What... did you say...?”

Seo Ah-in said, as if coughing up blood, with an expression that looked like she was about to have a respiratory attack.

She's overreacting.

“Don't, make me, laugh... You were capable of something like that... why... why to us...?! No way...!”

“...What's so unbelievable. If you want to hear the story from back then, I can tell you anytime...”

“...Why did you stop talking? Is it because you think it's a ridiculous story yourself?”

Right.

It is a bit ridiculous.

Thinking so, I glared at the string of text that had appeared in front of me with narrowed eyes.

“Hey. Seo Ah-in.”

“What.”

“You, sometimes you're really helpful.”

“...You're saying that now?”

Seo Ah-in replied in a dumbfounded voice.

But I'm serious.

Why?

[ 2nd Awakening Quest ]

[ Your ###$徇귙겒徇 past 偃?縯뷩겎徇쇻? ]

As soon as I brought up a story related to ‘my past’.

Something got updated.

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